Engagement pictures locations?

[peonygirl]

My fiance and I are torn regarding where to have our pictures. The beach is so nice, but perhaps a bit cliched? Where did you have your pics taken? We''re in San Diego btw.

 

[San Diego Bride]

i am in san diego as well. we like the beach, but don''t spend a lot of time there so we had our pictures done at a park close to the photographer''s house. if i had to do it over again i''d probably do them at balboa park. i bet you could get some amazing pictures with all of the historic buildings. i''m picturing some shots with a couple on the steps or leaning against the columns of some of the buildings. the grass there is beautiful year-round so you could get some "park-like" shots too. and there''s always the carousel if you want some fun pictures.

all that having been said, the couple of pictures i liked the most just focused on us, so you can''t really tell where they were taken.

good luck deciding.

 

[peonygirl]

Hi Novia! We''re actually having our wedding at Balboa Park, or we''d definitely do it there!

 

[San Diego Bride]

i''ll have to try to come up with some other thoughts then. is your wedding at the prado? i''m jealous! they were already booked when i called them about our wedding. (i only had ~6 months to plan). luckily la valencia was available so we''re getting married there.

could you do pictures downtown? there are lots of great buildings there. or how about somewhere along the water like seaport village with the skyline in the background? have you picked a photographer yet? does he/she have any ideas?

 

[peonygirl]

Hi again! We are having it at the Prado! How weird, the Prado and La Valencia were our first choices, but La Valencia was going to be tight with our guest list so we chose the former. It's gorgeous though! I love that you can see the ocean from the reception room. We are probably going to use Chana and Don for photography. I'd love to hear more about your wedding since you're in SD too. Congrats, it must be coming up soon!

 

[San Diego Bride]

we were initially planning our wedding in chicago with the ceremony at northwestern''s alice millar chapel (i read in a previous thread that you''re in chicago), but due to some changes on the jobfront and family drama we moved it to san diego. that left me with only a few months to plan. our ceremony will be on a saturday afternoon at la valencia this fall. we went with daytime because our guestlist is only 50-60 and it was cheaper. i definitely liked the idea of a venue with the ceremony/reception in the same place. the hotel location will be convenient since most of our guests (including FI and I) will be traveling from out of state and 8 guests will be traveling from other continents. while i love the prado, it probably worked out better sizewise to have it at la valencia.

here are my vendors so far:

day of planner: kimberly osborn at i do weddings
i had a great meeting with her and liked her a lot better than the others that were charging 3 times as much to provide the same services or less. i''m really looking forward to sitting back and enjoying the wedding day and letting her worry about the details.

flowers: haydee''s creative flowers
she asked me to bring pictures to our meeting so i brought a couple of magazine clips, one of the bouquet i want and the other of the centerpieces. the centerpieces are from instyle magazine and have submerged flowers in cylindrical vases. i thought there was no way these things would fit into my budget, but they will. she had great suggestions for using less flowers, but making them look more dramatic. i''m really excited to be working with her.

catering: done by la valencia
we''ll do our tasting in a couple of weeks to determine the final menu.

bakery: ?
the menu includes desserts (but no cake) so we might just have a dessert buffet. otherwise i''ll look for a bakery for a cupcake cake. do you have any suggestions?

photographer: lynnette mortero
i liked her style and she was definitely in my budget. she seems newer but i saw a lot of her pictures and a couple of her albums from start to finish (not just a best-of collection) and was really happy with them. i think she''ll do a great job. and she offered to meet with me at the hotel the week before to look around and find some places for nice photos, develop a "must have" photo list, etc. i thought that was a nice touch.

officiant: colleague
FI and i both met while working at a hospital in san diego and the hospital''s chaplain has kindly agreed to marry us.

music: camelot strings
we''re having strings for the ceremony and a harpist for the cocktail hour. we''ll be using an ipod for the reception

dress: custom made by my mom

this is a quasi-destination wedding for us since we were living here until a couple of months after we were engaged so i was in san diego for the initial planning, but then moved away (midwest, but sadly not near chicago which was our original plan). my single biggest resourse was san diego style weddings magazine. it has extensive vendor lists and gives you an idea of pricing. that was a huge help and cut down on the work since i didn''t have to look at vendors i knew i couldn''t afford. i just mention it since i know you''re planning from afar as well.

sorry for such a long post. i think it''s the first time i wrote this all down in the same place!

i hope your wedding plans are coming along. i''d love to hear all about your wedding and your vendors!

 

[peonygirl]

novia, I feel like we''re twins! We are also having an afternoon wedding, and my fiance and I are currently grad students at Northwestern. How odd! DId you two both graduate from NU? Have you been to the site bridalinsider.com? There are tons of San Diego girls there; way more than on theknow.com. I''ll write more later (I''m rushing to get to school now).

 

[San Diego Bride]

peonygirl,
FI is an NU graduate. i just wear the hat he gave me! i''m going to check out that website.
i hope your classes are over soon. i want to hear more about your wedding!!

zhuzhu,
ask away. i''ll answer here. i''ve found the folks at la valencia to be extremely helpful with a ton of questions, so i encourage you to make a contact there as well.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

PG:
I live in L.A, but am very familiar with SD (went to school there). I''ll be getting married at a winery in Temecula this September. How about Engagement pics at a winery? The vines and greenery would make a spectactular backdrop!

I thought I''ve seen you around BI! It''s a great website. The gals there are soooo nice. novia & zhuzhu- hope to see you there!

CG

 

[peonygirl]

Hey Novia! We got engaged Feb 3, 2006, but since we don''t live in San Diego we''ve only been able to plan in spurts when I go home. So far we''ve decided on:

1) A Sunday afternoon wedding at the Prado (June 10, 2007).

2) About 120 people in attendance (My fiance and I will only have about 20 of our friends there, but because our parents are paying for almost everything they''re inviting a bunch of people).

3) The officiant will be my DF''s childhood rabbi.

4) We will have live music during the ceremony, cocktail hour, and the beginning of the reception and then a DJ for the last 2/3 of the reception. Our DJ is Mick from Elite British DJ and the person doing the live music is Yochanan Winston (mostly traditional Jewish wedding music except for the cocktail hour).

5) We also have our bridal part choosen.

6) We''ll probably use Chana and Don for photography.

Things to do: videographer, florist, invitations, my dress, and all of the small things.

 

[selflove]

We had our pics taken indoors and outdoors at a hotel that is 17th century decor with a garden, as well as at the beach. For us, the beach is our stomping grounds and we are there all the time so it was really special for that reason.

You should take them wherever is special to you and your FI. I love the winery idea!

 

[peonygirl]

selflove, we are both grad students so we should clearly get all of our photos taken in a classroom or in front of our computers. I''m sad to say that we don''t really have any special places (especially since my DF has only been to San Diego twice).

 

[San Diego Bride]

your wedding is going to be beautiful! the music sounds perfect? are you both jewish? we tossed around the idea of having live music, but ultimately decided against it since the venue isn''t that big, the guest list is pretty small, and people are divided almost 50-50 in terms of english-spanish first languages.

when will you start dress shopping? there are probably great shops in chicago. while i didn''t love the dress trying on experience i love seeing pictures from others!

about the engagment pictures... i love chargergrrl''s idea of the winery. if you''re both in town for a few days it might be a nice outing... wine tasting and pictures. i think FI would have enjoyed the pciture session much more had there been wine involved! or what about doing the pictures in chicago? i know it involves hiring a different photographer, but it might be more convenient. and if you''re both grad students at NU it seems pretty appropriate to have some pictures taken on that gorgeous campus!

 

[zhuzhu]

peonygirl
I would suggest pic taken at La Jolla beach. I personally find it very romantic, and ocean view reflects the uniqueness and beauty of San Diego vividly. La Jolla beach is amazing also because you can find very different pic background along the same "beach line", all within walking distance, so you get most diversity for your buck!

Novia,
Can you tell me how La Valencia defines "day wedding" vs "evening wedding"? Do we have to "clear out" from reception by 6 or 7 pm? I know they have a min of 8K for day wedding and 13k for evening one. Do you think having a party of 60 max I can fit within those budget comfortably? or will I need to prepare additional cash for alcohol beverage expenses?

 

[zhuzhu]

SDL,
I LOVE that new hairdo of yours! We should get people to meet and form a PS_San Diego club!!!

 

[GarysBride]

Im from san diego too! congrats everyone on your upcomming weddings!
my FI and I just got engaged on may 6th so we havent really started planning but this thread is really helpful. Im sure ill have ALOT of questions soon too. I think all of us should have a san diego PS get together!?!?!?!

 

[researcher]

Date: 5/31/2006 2:13:30 AM
Author: GarysBride
Im from san diego too! congrats everyone on your upcomming weddings!

my FI and I just got engaged on may 6th so we havent really started planning but this thread is really helpful. Im sure ill have ALOT of questions soon too. I think all of us should have a san diego PS get together!?!?!?!

I started this thread to try and get all os SD PSers together

 

[researcher]

As for locations, as a San Diego native I have to say that I second Coronado. With the beaches, the silver strand, and the option of having downtown SD in the background, you really can''t go wrong! I too would have said Balboa Park as a second choice, but obviously that isn''t going to happen

The other thing you might want to consider is the Torrey Pines bluffs. Not only can you get AMAZING shots from the cliffs, but you could set it up to get your photos during low tide so you could take some up on flat rock on the beach (there''s a trail from the bluffs down to the beach). And, the golf course is right there!

 

[zhuzhu]

Forgive my self posting, but you could take a wonderful shot like this in La Jolla~!!!!!

 

[San Diego Bride]

zhuzhu,

"day" vs. "evening" depends on the day of the week. they do one wedding on fridays, two on saturdays and one on sundays. for saturday daytime weddings you need to be out by 3:30. we''re doing this because the date was very important. sundays you can start in the afternoon and end in the early evening since there will not be a wedding following yours. as for the budget... i think you''ll be fine with just the minimum with a guest list of 60 during the day, but i think you''d have to add a lot of food (or more people) for the evening minimum.

hope that helps!

 

[researcher]

Date: 5/31/2006 2:34:50 AM
Author: researcher

Date: 5/31/2006 2:13:30 AM

Author: GarysBride

Im from san diego too! congrats everyone on your upcomming weddings!


my FI and I just got engaged on may 6th so we havent really started planning but this thread is really helpful. Im sure ill have ALOT of questions soon too. I think all of us should have a san diego PS get together!?!?!?!

I started this thread to try and get all os SD PSers together

I just wanted to say we''ve (pretty much) picked a date for the San Diego GTG, and figured I''d mention it again on this thread as some of you SD posters have not responded yet. If you can make it on July 28th we''d love to have you join us!

 

[selflove]

Date: 5/30/2006 5:03:52 PM
Author: peonygirl
selflove, we are both grad students so we should clearly get all of our photos taken in a classroom or in front of our computers. I''m sad to say that we don''t really have any special places (especially since my DF has only been to San Diego twice).

Why not do them on the Northwestern campus? I''ve never been there, but most private university campuses are beautiful. And on Sundays they are usually empty!

It might be more convenient, too, since you could schedule it around your own schedules and not cram it in during a trip to SD when you might have a lot of other stuff to do. Plus, I think it would be sweet to capture this point in your lives, grad school, with professional photos on the campus.

Aren''t there a million great places around Chicago for pictures?

 

[peonygirl]

selflove, we are planning to do them in San Diego so we can figure out whether we want to use the photographers we're considering. But it would have been a good idea nonetheless!

We have decided to do them in the La Valencia gardens and then at the La Jolla Cove. So we can get garden and then beach!

 

[codex57]

Considering that SD has the most beautiful beaches IMO (including weather, and yes, I've been to Florida and Texas) in all of the continental US, I'd say go to La Jolla/Coronado and at least take some pics there. We had our engagement pictures taken at Laguna Beach in OC and while we're not beach people either, they came out awesome! Some gorgeous sunset photos too (blew one of them up). Some with the seals might be cool.

Some Gaslamp District pics might be cool if you can somehow get in the picture alone without other people.